


The Slices of Rotten Oranges

by JustAFellowUser



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: AU, Developing Friendships, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hajime goes to Hope's Peak Elementary School, Nagito being clingy, No Romance, Slice of Life Before Despair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-04 15:50:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10282478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAFellowUser/pseuds/JustAFellowUser
Summary: In a world full of so many vibrant and talented people, there's no reason for something as bland and unattractive as an ordinary person to exist, yet there is an overwhelming majority of these uninspiring individuals. The only purpose that they have in this game people call 'life', is to be easily ignorable NPCs with no discernible personalities.Then why is someone as average as Hajime Hinata so different than the rest?





	

Dropping the heavy bicycle on the ground, Nagito sighed as he collapsed onto the nearby bench.

 _Six more blocks to go._ he reminded himself, flexing his stinging hands. He grimaced at the bike next to him. _Of course, only a stupid nobody like me would have their tires stolen. Seriously, who steals bicycle tires?_

Nagito sighed again, but despite his self-wallowing, he forced himself to smile.

 _It’s fine. I’ll be fine. I’ll probably find some spares at home. Or, if I’m really lucky, I’ll win another all-expense-paid  cruise around the world._ His smile became more genuine as he hefted the useless bicycle back into his arms and continued his trek back home.

By the time he reached Hope’s Peak Elementary School, he was kicking himself for forgetting his phone at home. _(Could’ve called a taxi, but nope!)_ What was supposed to be a twenty minute bike ride became a slow walk made even slower by the added weight and constant brakes.

 _I’m never going to get home at this rate._ Nagito thought, dropping his dumb wheelless bike, he winced when it landed on his foot before picking it up and dragging it closer to the private school’s main gate. _Maybe I should just leave it behind?_

He glanced at the cars zooming down the road. _Or maybe I should try hitchhiking?_

As he contemplated his decisions, he couldn’t help but notice the loud jeering coming from somewhere. Out of curiosity, he turned his head towards the source and froze when he saw where it was coming from.

Inside the school grounds, one burly kid was pummeling another more plain-looking one while two other students were mocked the average kid who was clearly losing the fight.

Judging by their uniforms, the children from the talented course of the elementary school were harassing a student from the ‘Potential’* course (which was just a cutesy name for ‘Reserve course’ so the talentless students feel like they’re worth a damn).

Normally, Nagito would just ignore the senseless fighting and leave, but today, he just couldn’t. This was just too stupid to ignore.

 _They’re not even beating him where no one can see him!_ Nagito thought as he walked through the gateway. _Are they really that arrogant or are kids just that stupid?_

As the biggest kid lifted his leg to stomp on the fallen Potential student’s stomach, Nagito grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back.

“That’s enough.” he said over the student’s choked yelp.

The Lil’ Ultimate he grabbed immediately broke free of his hold and spun around to sneer at him.

“Why don’t you mind your own goddamn business or- ah!” the kid cut himself off and slapped a hand over his mouth when he realized who he was talking to.

“It’s an Ultimate high schooler!” a girl squeaked, stating the obvious.

“W-What’re y-you doing here, sir?” the second girl politely stammered with a hesitant smile, as if she wasn’t just screaming that another kid should be used as fertilizer for the plants.

“I _was_ going home, but apparently now I’m stopping Hope’s Peak Elementary’s _gifted students_ from beating up a Reserve student.” he coolly responded, causing the three kids to wince at his tone.

Not bothering to look at them, he crossed his arms and sighed dejectedly as he stared off at nothing.

“Wow, this is just depressing. I mean this is what the Ultimate Hopes of this inspiring school do? Instead of honing their strengths and trying to reach their truest potentials, they choose to torture talentless students. Where’s the hope in that? Just seeing that makes me wish I never walked here. I truly am unlucky.”

“We weren’t torturing him!” the supposedly polite girl protested. She didn’t meet his eyes as she picked imaginary lint off of her uniform. “Uh... we were just-”

“Mocking and beating the crap out of him.” Nagito finished, he placed a hand on his head. “Honestly, out of all the places you could’ve done this, you just _had_ to do it here? There wasn’t any other place you could’ve gone to?”

The boy’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What?”

Nagito continued talking as if the kid hadn’t spoken.

“Since it’s way past school hours, I’m assuming that all of you walk instead of someone picking you up. You could’ve easily followed him on his way home and beat him up ‘til your little hearts were content. But nope! You, the representatives of the world’s hope, decide to bully a ‘Potential’ student in front of a building that is the symbol of hope where everyone can see you _gifted_ students. Do you hear anything wrong with that? Do you have any idea what could’ve happened if I hadn’t stopped you?”

The three students, on the brink of tears, shook their heads. The older teen wasn’t yelling at them, but in a way, it would’ve been better than how he was currently talking down to them. He didn’t even tilt his head to properly look at them. He just towered over them with a cold look on his face.

“You are Ultimate Hopes. Act like it. If you can’t handle the responsibilities that come with wearing those uniforms, then do everyone a favor, and transfer to a different school.” For what felt like the thousandth time today, Nagito sighed. “Leave.”

The students didn’t need to be told twice.

After the Lil’ Ultimate students ran with their tails between their legs, Nagito was about about to leave too when he noticed the Reserve/Potential student was still a jumbled heap on the ground.

 _He’s still here?_ Nagito blinked. He thought the kid would’ve left ages ago. _Guess he’s unconscious..._

He reached for his cell phone to call an ambulance, only to grimace when he remembered it was at home. _I should stay with him until he wakes up._

Nagito crouched down and fixed the boy’s awkward position.

Other than the bruises and the strange ahoge sticking out of his short spiky brown hair, this kid looked like the very definition of normal. Even a loser like Nagito himself looked more distinctive than this kid. He wondered what a boy as ridiculously plain as him could’ve possibly done to get into a fight in the first place.

He lightly shook the boy.

“Hey...” Nagito tapped the bridge of ahoge boy’s nose before shaking him again.

After a little while, Ahoge boy’s face scrunched up in discomfort before his eyes fluttered open.

“Hey... Can you hear me...? Are you okay...?”

“Wha...?” the boy groaned. He squinted before blinking. His eyes darted around the school grounds before landing on Nagito. Seeing the older teen’s uniform, he looked even more confused and surprised.

Nagito gave him a small smile and waved. “Hello there, glad to see you’re awake.”

“...Um... Hi...? I mean... Hello there?” the boy asked, earning an amused snort from the Ultimate high-schooler.

The boy slowly sat up, wincing slightly before rubbing his stiff neck. He looked around again.

“Uh... excuse me? Who are you? Where are Suzu and the others?”

“You mean the kids who you were fighting with earlier?”

The boy’s face blushed at the question but nodded.

“They should be long gone by now,” Nagito said tiredly, wondering if it was okay for him to leave. “but don’t worry. I doubt they’ll bother you again after I just dealt with them. But if they _are_ still bullying you, you should really talk to aaaa...” he trailed off, when the kid suddenly fixed him with a strange expression. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

The boy’s green eyes were so wide, Nagito could practically count all the stars shining in them. His gaping mouth was twitching as if it wasn’t sure if it wanted to widely smile or remain a perfect ‘O’.

“You _dealt_ with the Lil’ Ultimate Green Thumbs?” the boy finally gasped.

“Yes... I did... why?” Nagito asked hesitantly, unsure how to react to those sparkling eyes staring him down. He never had anyone look at him like that before. What was this kid even thinking? For an ordinary person, he was really starting to act weird.

He nearly jumped when the boy started bombarding him with questions.

“What did you do? What did they do? Were they mad? What did they say? What did you say?” the kid hesitated before asking in a stage whisper. “Did you guys fight?”

“Of course not!” Nagito exclaimed, offended that he would even think that. “I would never fight middle schoolers! I just told them to leave and they left.”

“That’s it? That’s all you did?” Ahoge boy didn’t even seem disappointed by this information, in fact he sounded more intrigued.

“Basically.” the older teen shrugged, still confused about why Ahoge boy was making this such a big deal. Maybe he really did need to see a doctor?

“That’s amazing!” Ahoge boy cheered. Nagito raised an eyebrow at that before placing a hand on his forehead to check for a fever. His temperature was fine, so why did he look like that? The boy didn’t seem to mind the hand as he continued speaking. “You just talked to them and they stopped. Last time I did that, Kenji did this to me.”

Ahoge boy opened his mouth as wide as he could and pointed to a gaping hole where a molar should be.

Nagito’s hand snapped back as if it had been struck.

“He punched your tooth out?!” Nagito gasped.

“Yeah,” the boy’s smile wavered. “But it’s fine. It’s in the back, so it’s not like anyone can see it.” Even as he said that, he didn’t look fine with what happened to him. In fact, he sounded like he was just repeating what someone told him.

Ahoge boy adjusted his tie.

“I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised that you stopped them so easily. I mean, you’re an Ultimate from Hope’s Peak Academy, right?” Ahoge boy beamed at Nagito. “You’ll always be awesome no matter what you do!”

Nagito stared at him like deer caught in headlights.

If it were any other Ultimate, he would’ve readily agreed with Ahoge boy, but him, Nagito Komaeda, being awesome at whatever he did? Him and awesome didn’t even belong in the same sentence. _Maybe he was joking? No, he can’t be, not when his face was so full of-_

Nagito’s grey eyes widened.

 _Admiration._ he realized with a soft gasp. This average kid was looking at him with pure unadulterated admiration. As if Nagito himself was the Ultimate Hope he dreamed to be. To have someone give a look so full of respect and warm approval to a worthless piece of garbage like him... Nagito honestly thought he’d be dead before he would ever experience this.

 _I really am lucky._ he thought with a smile.

“Er... are you okay?” the boy asked, his face now looking... concerned?! This boy barely even knew him and he was already treating him better than most of his classmates! “You look like you’re going to cry.”

Nagito found himself genuinely smiling at the kid. “I’m fine. Please, don’t worry about it. What did you say your name was again?”

Ahoge boy briefly frowned at the abrupt change in subject, before responding with a cheeky grin.

“I asked first remember?”

Nagito chuckled as he raised his hands in surrender.

“That’s right, you did. Well, I guess I’ll start the introductions then. My name is Nagito Komaeda and...” he hesitated. “I guess I’ll tell you about my talent so you know why Hope’s Peak Academy chose me.” He found himself stopping again. To his surprise, he found himself being very unwilling to tell this kid what his talent was. Usually he’d just spit it out and attempt to brush off the looks of disappointment and confusion like they were no big deal, but he didn’t want to see this kid’s face fall when he didn’t met his expectations or have to explain himself when the kid asked what he meant.

 _Maybe I should lie?_ Nagito immediately rejected that idea. _No, he’s going to figure it out eventually, I might as well tell him my stupid talent now and get it over with._

“My talent’s being lucky.” Nagito crossed his arms and looked everywhere but at the boy. “I know, it’s-”

“How do you practice it?” the boy suddenly asked.

Nagito’s head snapped up to look at him. “What?”

“Your talent,” Ahoge boy said, as if it were obvious. “How do you train yourself to get better at being lucky? Do you gamble? Do you keep answering multiple choice questions randomly until you always get the right score? How’d you figure out you were so lucky?”

This... This was new... Nagito never expected the boy to just _accept_ that luck was a talent and even go so far as to try to understand how he mastered it. He didn’t even think people would consider being lucky something you can train for.

“It’s.... It’s.... complicated...?” Nagito said, still caught off guard by the questions. “I mean, sometimes I have to manipulate the situation to.... Don’t you think being lucky is a weird talent?”

The kid blinked.

“Well, yeah, but so are the other talents. I mean, I just pulverized by a guy whose talent is being a tree surgeon.” Ahoge boy suddenly laughed. “I think the weirdest one I heard is a girl in the talented course here being called ‘the Lil’ Ultimate Homeroom’. What does that talent even do? You don’t even get graded in that class, you just have to show up! Obviously, her talent is better than having no talent at all, but still, I think being lucky sounds a lot more useful than that. When your talent’s luck, you can get ‘A‘s without having to study for a test, or finding a twenty dollar bill on the ground, or-”

“Getting your bicycle tires stolen.” Nagito added. He couldn’t stop smiling. It was really starting to hurt, but he couldn’t stop smiling.

“What?”

“Nothing. What was your name again?”

Ahoge boy scowled.

“First of all, I never told you my name. And second of all, are you always going to say that when you want to change the subject?”

This kid was not normal. Nagito decided, as he burst out laughing at the boy’s blunt statement. There’s no way someone could be this strange and but be boringly normal at the same time.

“Maybe,” Nagito finally responded, still giggling at the boy’s remark. “Hopefully your name isn’t so forgettable that I can’t remember it.”

The boy huffed.

“My name is Hajime Hinata, please don’t forget it.” Hajime gave him a bright smile. “And thanks for saving me earlier.”

**Author's Note:**

> *I think that if Hope's Peak Elementary School had a Reserve Course, they would rename it to 'Potential' Course because of parents and School Committees complaining that the name 'Reserve Course' discourages children from trying their best or something alone those lines.
> 
> I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, please feel free to tell me! Thank you for taking your time to read this story!


End file.
